Biller-initiated electronic billing activation

ABSTRACT

This disclosure describes systems, methods, and computer-readable media related to biller-initiated electronic billing activation. A biller system associated with a biller may receive entity information associated with an entity requesting to establish a biller account with the biller. The biller system may generate the biller account. The biller system may generate an electronic billing activation request. The biller system may transmit to a service provider system associated with an electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) service provider, the electronic billing activation request and receive a confirmation of processing of the electronic billing activation request.

BACKGROUND

Financial service providers may provide any of a variety of financialservices electronically, such as over the Internet. For example,financial service providers may provide electronic bill presentment andpayment (EBPP) services including, among other things, the electronicpresentation of consumer and business bills and/or the capability tosubmit electronic bill payments. Financial service providers may offersuch services directly, indirectly, or on behalf of another entity.Financial service providers may directly offer services by interactingdirectly with the consumer/business or biller. Financial serviceproviders may indirectly offer services by interacting with theconsumer/business through another entity that may present a userinterface to the consumer/business or with the biller through anotherentity that services the biller (e.g., biller service provider). In someembodiments, financial service providers may offer services on behalf ofanother entity where the customer of the financial service provider isan entity, such as a bank, that offers EBPP services to its customersbut the financial service provider interacts with the customers ofentity.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The detailed description is set forth with reference to the accompanyingdrawings. The drawings are provided for purposes of illustration onlyand merely depict example embodiments of the disclosure. The drawingsare provided to facilitate understanding of the disclosure and shall notbe deemed to limit the breadth, scope or applicability of thedisclosure. The use of the same reference numerals indicates similar oridentical components or elements; however, different reference numeralsmay be used as well to indicate components or elements which may besimilar or identical. Various embodiments of the disclosure may utilizeelements and/or components other than those illustrated in the drawings,and some elements and/or components may not be present in variousembodiments. Depending on the context, singular terminology used todescribe an element or a component may encompass a plural number of suchelements or components and vice versa.

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an illustrative system forbiller-initiated electronic billing activation in accordance with anembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a more detailed schematic block diagram illustrating varioushardware and software sub-components of various components of theillustrative architecture of FIG. 1 in accordance with an embodiment ofthe disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a data flow diagram depicting illustrative data flows forbiller-initiated electronic billing activation in accordance with anembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a process flow diagram of an illustrative method forgenerating or identifying a previously generated unique consumeridentifier that facilitates biller-initiated electronic billing inaccordance with an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a process flow diagram of an illustrative method forinitiating biller-initiated electronic billing in accordance with anembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a process flow diagram of an illustrative method foractivating biller-initiated electronic billing in accordance with anembodiment of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Systems, methods, and computer-readable media in accordance with variousembodiments of the present disclosure relate to, among other things,biller-initiated electronic billing activation. In some embodiments, aservice provider system may provide electronic bill presentment andpayment (EBPP) services. A consumer may be any type of entity capable ofestablishing biller accounts and using EBPP services. A consumer may bean individual or a business ranging in size from small merchants tolarge organizations. A biller may be any type of entity that may bill aconsumer for services rendered or goods sold. For example, a biller maybe a utility company (e.g., electric company, gas company, water/sewercompany, telecommunications company, or the like); a lender; a creditcard issuer; an insurance company; a healthcare provider; or any othertype of service provider (e.g., security service, maid service, laundryservice, landscape service, or the like).

In accordance with one or more example embodiments of the disclosure, aservice provider system may establish a subscriber account for aconsumer, generate a unique consumer identifier, and associate theunique consumer identifier with the subscriber account (and byextension, the consumer). The service provider system may transmit theunique consumer identifier for presentation to the consumer. Theconsumer may contact a biller to request service to be established. Thebiller may receive the unique consumer identifier from the consumer, aswell as other information, and may establish a new biller accountassociated with the consumer. The biller may obtain additionalinformation from the consumer, such as contact information andpreferences regarding electronic billing and automatic bill paymentservices. In some embodiments, the unique consumer identifier may not beprovided to the biller under preferences regarding the EBPP services areprovided. The consumer may provide a variety of information to establisha new account with the biller and the biller may request preferencesassociated with electronic bill payment and presentment. The consumermay transmit an indication to receive bills electronically and providethe consumer identifier. The biller may then generate an electronicbilling activation request, which may include the unique consumeridentifier as well as other information, and transmit the request to theservice provider system that provides the EBPP services and isassociated with the unique consumer identifier—in case the biller maywork with more than one EBPP service provider. The service providersystem may verify the identity of the consumer and identify thesubscriber account associated with the consumer based at least in parton the unique consumer identifier. The service provider system may thenproceed to activate electronic billing by establishing the biller as anew payee of the consumer, establishing the biller as an electronicbiller of the consumer, and optionally setting up automatic payment offuture bills of the biller for the consumer.

Illustrative System

FIG. 1 schematically depicts an illustrative networked architecture 100that facilitates biller-initiated electronic billing activation inaccordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure. Theillustrative architecture 100 may include one or more user devices 102operable by one or more consumers 104, one or more service providersystem(s) 130, and one or more biller system(s) 140. The illustrativearchitecture may further optionally include one or more consumer sponsorsystem(s) 120. It should be appreciated that while one or morecomponents of the illustrative architecture 100 may be described in thesingular, a plural number of any such component(s) (potentially formingpart of a system that includes additional hardware, software, firmware,and/or networking components) is also encompassed by this disclosure.

The user device(s) 102 may be communicatively coupled with the serviceprovider system(s) 130, biller system(s) 140, and/or the optionalconsumer sponsor system(s) 120 via one or more networks 110. Thenetwork(s) 110 may include, but are not limited to, any one or acombination of different types of suitable communications networks, suchas cable networks, wireless networks, cellular networks, or any otherprivate (e.g., frame relay networks) and/or public networks (e.g., theInternet) including networks of any scope of coverage such asmetropolitan-area networks (MANs), wide-area networks (WANs), local areanetworks (LANs), and so forth. Further, the network(s) 110 may includeany suitable data transmission medium including, but not limited to,coaxial cable, twisted wire pair, optical fiber, hybrid fiber coaxial(HFC), microwave terrestrial transceivers, radio frequency communicationmediums, satellite communication mediums, or combinations thereof.

A consumer 104 may operate a user device 102 to establish service orenroll with an EBPP service provider that may host, operate, control, orotherwise be associated with the service provider system 130. Theconsumer 104 may be an individual person or a business entity requestingEBPP services from a service provider, which may be provided via, forexample, the service provider system 130. In some embodiments, theconsumer 104 may request the EBPP services via a consumer sponsor system120. The service provider system 130 may receive a request from theconsumer 104 either directly or through a consumer sponsor system 120.Responsive to the request, the service provider system 130 may enrollthe consumer 104 for EBPP services by establishing a subscriber accountand associating the consumer 104 with the subscriber account. Theservice provider system 130 may generate a unique consumer identifierand associate the identifier with the subscriber account and thus, byextension, with the consumer 104. The unique consumer identifier may beunique across the scope of all subscriber accounts serviced by theservice provider system 130.

The user device(s) 102 may include any suitable computing deviceincluding, but not limited to, for example, a laptop computer, desktopcomputer, smartphone device, a tablet device, or the like. The userdevice(s) 102 may be associated with any suitable operatingsystem/computing environment. While various embodiments of thedisclosure may be described in the context of mobile computing devicesand mobile applications, it should be appreciated that the disclosureextends to any suitable computing device (e.g., a desktop computer, alaptop computer, a workstation, etc.) capable of executing any suitableclient application within any suitable computing environment.

In one or more embodiments of the disclosure, the user device(s) 102 maybe associated with one or more operating system environments. Any of avariety of applications may be executable on the user device(s) 102.

A consumer 104 may use a user device 102 to perform a variety ofdifferent functions and access a variety of different Web pages andservices, which may include EBPP services supported by the serviceprovider system 130. As previously noted, EBPP services supported by theservice provider system 130 may be accessed through a consumer sponsorsystem 120.

The consumer sponsor system(s) 120 may include one or more consumersponsor processing computer(s) 122 and one or more consumer sponsordatastore(s) 124. A consumer sponsor may be an entity that providesconsumers 104 with an access point to EBPP services supported by, forexample, service provider system 130. In some embodiments, userinterfaces for EBPP services may be hosted by either the consumersponsor system 120 or the service provider system 130. In someembodiments, the user interfaces (UIs) may be hosted by the serviceprovider system 130 but branded to reflect the consumer sponsor. In someembodiments, the branding may be done by the service provider system 130so that the service provider remains anonymous to the consumer 104. Theconsumer sponsor may be a financial institution that provides a Webportal, or some other entity. The consumer sponsor may provideinformation about the consumer 104 to the service provider system 130 insupport of enrollment (e.g., either “pre-enrolling” the consumer 104 orproviding the information as the consumer 104 initiates an enrollmentprocess).

A consumer sponsor system 120 may include one or more consumer sponsordatastores 124. The consumer sponsor datastores 124 may store dataassociated with a consumer 104 used to populate sponsor-providedenrollment in EBPP services, such as consumer information (e.g., name,address, telephone number, email address, etc.), an identifier by whicha consumer 104 may be identified by the consumer sponsor, and/or one ormore financial account number(s) associated with the consumer 104.

The consumer 104 may communicate with the service provider system 130through the consumer sponsor system 120 or directly. The serviceprovider system 130 may include one or more service provider processingcomputers 132. The service provider system 130 may support a variety offunctionality including supporting a network of multiple consumersponsors, consumers 104, and billers. The one or more service providerprocessing computers 132 may support electronic bill presentment andpayment functionality. For example, electronic bill presentment andpayment functionality may include, but is not limited to, consumerenrollment processing, generation and tracking of unique consumeridentifiers, notifications to consumers 104 and billers regardingelectronic bill payment, processing of biller-initiated electronicbilling activation requests on behalf of consumers 104, includingpresentment of bill information electronically, payment of the biller onbehalf of he consumer, establishment of the biller as a payee and anelectronic biller of the consumer 104, and transmission of a subsequentnotification to the consumer 104 and a confirmation to the biller, andthe like.

In addition, the service provider processing computers 132 may store ormay be configured to access one or more datastore(s) (e.g., serviceprovider datastores 134) storing a variety of types of informationincluding, but not limited to, data associated with consumers 104,consumer sponsors, and billers to enable EBPP services. For example, theservice provider datastores 134 may store consumer information, such asnames, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, and the like. Theservice provider datastores 134 may store the unique consumeridentifiers associated with various subscriber accounts in turnassociated with respective consumers 104. The service providerdatastores 134 may store a variety of data associated with individualsubscriber accounts (and thus consumers 103) or individual billers, orboth. For example, the service provider datastores 134 may store avariety of data for each of a number of respective payees associatedwith a subscriber account, such as an electronic billing activationstatus or a biller account number.

After a subscriber account has been established by the service providersystem 130 and a unique consumer identifier is transmitted forpresentation to the consumer 104, the consumer 104 may communicate witha biller over a network 110 or 112. The network(s) 110 or 112 mayinclude, but are not limited to, any one or a combination of differenttypes of suitable communications networks, such as cable networks,wireless networks, cellular networks, or any other private (e.g., framerelay networks) and/or public networks (e.g., the Internet) includingnetworks of any scope of coverage such as metropolitan-area networks(MANs), wide-area networks (WANs), local area networks (LANs), and soforth. Further, the network(s) 110 or 112 may include any suitable datatransmission medium including, but not limited to, coaxial cable,twisted wire pair, optical fiber, hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC), microwaveterrestrial transceivers, radio frequency communication mediums,satellite communication mediums, or combinations thereof.

For example, the consumer 104 may use a telephone to communicate with abiller customer service representative (CSR) 108 or similar employee ofthe biller to activate service with the biller and establish a newbiller account. The biller CSR 108 may request information from theconsumer 104 to create a new biller account for the customer. A billerCSR 108 may support consumers in establishing services provided by thebiller and creating new biller accounts or other functions andinteractions with consumers 104. Each biller may have multiple billerCSRs 108 performing this function. The biller CSR 108 may use acomputing device 106 to interact with the biller system 140. Forexample, the biller CSR 108 may obtain information from a consumer 104and enter the information into the system through a computing device106.

The biller CSR 108 may initiate processing responsive to a request fromthe consumer 104 to establish services provided by the biller and createa new biller account. One or more computing devices 106 may interactwith one or more biller processing computers 142 to store and/or accessdata and initiate appropriate processing. The biller system 140 may beaccessed and utilized by biller CSRs 108 via one or more computingdevices 106. The biller system 140 may support electronic billingthrough the EBPP service provider associated with service providersystem 130. The biller system 140 may further support biller-initiatedelectronic billing activation. A new biller account may be generated bythe biller system 140, and a biller-initiated electronic billingactivation request may be generated based at least in part on the newbiller account and the unique consumer identifier and transmitted to theservice provider system 130.

The biller processing computers 142 of the biller system 140 may storeor may be configured to access one or more datastore(s) (e.g., billersystem datastores 144) storing a variety of types of informationincluding, but not limited to, information associated with consumers104, information associated with biller accounts that have beenestablished, and associated service parameters (e.g., electronic billingactivation status, automatic bill payment instructions and parameters,such as amount, timing of payments, duration of payments, etc.). Forexample, data that is stored in the biller system datastores 144 mayinclude data relating to a start date for services provided by thebiller to a consumer, data relating to the biller account (e.g., date ofcreation, services added and/or modified over the life of service to theconsumer 104), unique customer identifiers associated with consumers104, and the like. Consumer information may include name, address,telephone number, email address, or the like. Biller account numbersassociated with the consumer 104 may include electronic billingactivation status for each biller account. An account identifierassociated with the EBPP service or the unique consumer identifier maybe provided by the service provider system 130.

In some embodiments, the illustrative architecture 100 may optionallyinclude a biller service provider (BSP) system. The BSP system may be incommunication with one or more biller system(s) 140 and provide serviceson behalf of the biller system 140. For example, a BSP may support theCSR functionality or handle communication flows to/from the serviceprovider system(s) 130.

It should be appreciated that individual instances of the serviceprovider system(s) 130, the biller system(s) 140, or the consumersponsor system(s) 120 may each be hosted or controlled by one or moreentities including potentially one or more same entities. Further, inthose scenarios in which any of the components of the illustrativearchitecture depicted in FIG. 1 are hosted by a same entity, thecomponents may be provided at different locations.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the illustrativenetworked architecture 100 depicted in FIG. 1 is provided by way ofexample only. Numerous other operating environments, systemarchitectures, and device configurations are within the scope of thisdisclosure. Other embodiments of the disclosure may include fewer orgreater numbers of components and/or devices and may incorporate some orall of the functionality described with respect to the illustrativearchitecture 100 depicted in FIG. 1, or additional functionality.

FIG. 2 is a more detailed schematic block diagram illustrating varioushardware and software sub-components of various components of theillustrative architecture of FIG. 1 in accordance with one or moreembodiments of the disclosure.

As depicted in FIG. 2, an illustrative user device 102 in accordancewith one or more embodiments of the disclosure may include one or morememory devices 242 (generically referred to herein as memory 242) andone or more processors (processor(s)) 240 configured to executecomputer-executable instructions that may be stored in the memory 242.In some embodiments, the user device 102 may include one or more busesto facilitate transfers of data between components inside a computer(e.g., between memory devices 242, processors 240, and the like). Theone or more buses may be parallel buses or serial buses. As previouslynoted, the user device 102 may be any suitable computing deviceincluding, but not limited to, a server computing device, a desktopcomputing device, a laptop computing device, a mobile computing device,a mainframe computing device, and so forth.

The processor(s) 240 may include any suitable processing unit capable ofaccepting digital data as input, processing the input data in accordancewith stored computer-executable instructions, and generating outputdata. The processor(s) 240 may be configured to execute thecomputer-executable instructions to cause or facilitate the performanceof various operations. The processor(s) 240 may include any type ofsuitable processing unit including, but not limited to, a centralprocessing unit, a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a ReducedInstruction Set Computer (RISC) microprocessor, a Complex InstructionSet Computer (CISC) microprocessor, an Application Specific IntegratedCircuit (ASIC), a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), aSystem-on-a-Chip (SoC), and so forth.

The memory 242 may store computer-executable instructions that areloadable and executable by the processor(s) 240 as well as datamanipulated and/or generated by the processor(s) 240 during theexecution of the computer-executable instructions. The memory 242 mayinclude volatile memory (memory that maintains its state when suppliedwith power) such as random access memory (RAM) and/or non-volatilememory (memory that maintains its state even when not supplied withpower) such as read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, and so forth. Invarious implementations, the memory 242 may include multiple differenttypes of memory, such as static random access memory (SRAM), dynamicrandom access memory (DRAM), unalterable ROM, and/or writeable variantsof ROM such as electrically erasable programmable read-only memory(EEPROM), flash memory, and so forth.

The user device 102 may further include additional data storage 244 suchas removable storage and/or non-removable storage including, but notlimited to, magnetic storage, optical disk storage, and/or tape storage.Data storage 244 may provide storage of computer-executable instructionsand/or other data. The data storage 244 may include storage that isinternal and/or external to the user device 102. The memory 242 and/orthe data storage 244, removable and/or non-removable, are all examplesof computer-readable storage media (CRSM).

The memory 242 may store data, computer-executable instructions,applications, and/or various program modules including, for example, oneor more operating systems 250, one or more user applications 252, and/orone or more EBPP applications 254.

The operating system (O/S) 250 may provide an interface between otherapplication software executing on the user device 102 (e.g., the userapplications 252) and hardware resources of the user device 102. Morespecifically, the O/S 250 may include a set of computer-executableinstructions for managing hardware resources of the user device 102 andfor providing common services to other applications (e.g., managingmemory allocation among various applications). The O/S 250 may includeany operating system now known or which may be developed in the futureincluding, but not limited to, any mobile operating system, any desktopor laptop operating system, any mainframe or server operating system, orany other proprietary or freely available operating system. In someembodiments, O/S 250 may include third party toolkits, middleware, andother supporting infrastructural software.

The memory 242 may further include one or more user applications 252loaded therein. A user application 252 may include one or more programmodules comprising computer-executable instructions that when executedby the processor(s) 240 enable different types of functionality, such ascommunicating through email, text message, video chatting, or the like.In some embodiments, the user application 252 may receive or otherwiseobtain information for the EBPP application 254 for storage orpresentment. For example, the user application 252 may be a budgetingapplication that may utilize the information that may be availablethrough the EBPP application 254.

The memory 242 may further include one or more EBPP applications 254loaded therein. An EBPP application 252 may include one or more programmodules comprising computer-executable instructions that when executedby the processor(s) 240 cause various aspects of electronic billpresentment and payment functionality to be performed in accordance withone or more embodiments of the disclosure. For example, the EBPPapplication 252 may communicate with the service provider system 130 andmay obtain and/or store a unique consumer identifier in data storage244.

The user device 102 may further include one or more I/O interfaces 246that facilitate receipt, by the user device 102, of information inputvia one or more I/O devices associated with the user device 102 as wellas the outputting of information from the user device 102 to the one ormore I/O devices for presentation to a consumer 104. The I/O devices mayinclude, for example, one or more user interface devices that facilitateinteraction between a consumer 104 and the user device 102 including,but not limited to, a display, a keypad, a keyboard, a pointing device,a control panel, a touch screen display, a remote control device, aspeaker, a microphone, and so forth.

The user device 102 may further include network interface(s) 248 thatfacilitate communication between the user device 102 and other devicesof the illustrative system architecture 100 (e.g., the service providersystem 130, consumer sponsor system 120, and/or biller system 140) orapplication software via the network(s) 110.

The user device 102 may communicate over one or more networks 110 with aservice provider processing computer 132, a biller processing computer142, and/or a consumer sponsor processing computer 122.

FIG. 2 additionally depicts various illustrative software, hardware,and/or firmware components of an illustrative service providerprocessing computer 132 in accordance with one or more embodiments ofthe disclosure. The service provider processing computer 132 may includeone or more memories 204 (generically referred to herein as memory 204)and one or more processors (processor(s)) 202 configured to executecomputer-executable instructions that may be stored in the memory 204.In some embodiments, the service provider processing computer 132 mayinclude one or more buses to facilitate transfers of data betweencomponents inside a computer (e.g., between memory devices 204,processors 202, and the like). The one or more buses may be parallelbuses or serial buses. The service provider processing computer 132 maybe any suitable computing device including, but not limited to, a servercomputer, a mainframe computer, and so forth. It should be appreciatedthat functionality described as being supported by the service providerprocessing computer 132 may, in various embodiments, be supported by aservice provider system 130 comprising one or more service providerprocessing computers 132 and potentially additional software, firmware,and/or hardware components. Further, processing described as beingperformed or facilitated by the service provider processing computer 132may, in various embodiments, be performed or facilitated in adistributed fashion by a plurality of service provider processingcomputers 132.

The processor(s) 202 may include any suitable processing unit capable ofaccepting digital data as input, processing the input data in accordancewith stored computer-executable instructions, and generating outputdata. The processor(s) 202 may be configured to execute thecomputer-executable instructions to cause or facilitate the performanceof various operations. The processor(s) 202 may include any type ofsuitable processing unit including, but not limited to, a centralprocessing unit, a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a ReducedInstruction Set Computer (RISC) microprocessor, a Complex InstructionSet Computer (CISC) microprocessor, an Application Specific IntegratedCircuit (ASIC), a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), aSystem-on-a-Chip (SoC), and so forth.

The memory 204 may store computer-executable instructions that areloadable and executable by the processor(s) 202 as well as datamanipulated and/or generated by the processor(s) 202 during theexecution of the computer-executable instructions. The memory 204 mayinclude volatile memory (memory that maintains its state when suppliedwith power) such as random access memory (RAM) and/or non-volatilememory (memory that maintains its state even when not supplied withpower) such as read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, and so forth. Invarious implementations, the memory 204 may include multiple differenttypes of memory, such as static random access memory (SRAM), dynamicrandom access memory (DRAM), unalterable ROM, and/or writeable variantsof ROM such as electrically erasable programmable read-only memory(EEPROM), flash memory, and so forth.

The service provider processing computer 132 may further includeadditional data storage 206 such as removable storage and/ornon-removable storage including, but not limited to, magnetic storage,optical disk storage, and/or tape storage. Data storage 206 may providestorage of computer-executable instructions and other data. The datastorage 206 may include storage that is internal and/or external to theservice provider processing computer 132. The memory 204 and/or the datastorage 206, removable and/or non-removable, are examples ofcomputer-readable storage media (CRSM).

The memory 204 may store data, computer-executable instructions,applications, and/or various program modules including, for example, oneor more operating systems 212, one or more database management systems(DBMS) 214, and/or one or more program modules such as a consumeridentifier generation module 216 and a biller account activation module218. The operating system (O/S) 212 may provide an interface betweenother applications and/or program modules executable by the serviceprovider processing computer 132 (e.g., consumer identifier generationmodule 216, a biller account activation module 218, etc.) and hardwareresources of the service provider processing computer 132. Morespecifically, the O/S 212 may include a set of computer-executableinstructions for managing hardware resources of the service providerprocessing computer 132 and for providing common services to otherapplications and/or program modules (e.g., managing memory allocationamong various applications and/or program modules). The O/S 212 mayinclude any operating system now known or which may be developed in thefuture including, but not limited to, any desktop or laptop operatingsystem, any mobile operating system, any mainframe operating system, orany other proprietary or freely available operating system.

The consumer identifier generation module 216 may includecomputer-executable instructions that responsive to execution by theprocessor(s) 202 cause various aspects of processing to generate uniqueconsumer identifiers to be performed in accordance with one or moreembodiments of the disclosure. Further, the biller account activationmodule 218 may include computer-executable instructions that responsiveto execution by the processor(s) 202 cause various aspects of billeractivation processing (e.g., activate a biller/payee for the consumerresponsive to receiving the electronic billing activation request) to beperformed.

In some embodiments, the unique consumer identifier may be thesubscriber account identifier (e.g., login identifier) while in otherembodiments, the unique consumer identifier may be a separate uniqueidentifier different from the subscriber account identifier. Such anidentifier may be preferred for security reasons, so that no portion ofthe login credentials is revealed to another entity to avoid, forexample, enabling spurious access to the subscriber account. In someembodiments, where the unique consumer identifier is not the same alogin identifier, the unique consumer identifier cannot be used toperform any financial transactional activity on behalf of the consumerand may be used to activate billers or supply data for the associationwith the consumer.

The unique consumer identifier may not have particular requirements asto length or content, although it may need to be sufficiently long tosupport a large subscriber base. In some embodiments, the uniqueconsumer identifier may contain a portion that may identify the serviceprovider system 130 (e.g., an initial character or character string orthe like).

In some embodiments, more than one unique consumer identifier may berelated or grouped together in a “household” relationship. There may beone primary unique consumer identifier and a number of secondaryidentifiers associated with the primary consumer identifier. Relatedidentifiers may be associated with the same subscriber account, butusable by different individuals. In some embodiments, each of theconsumer identifiers may be associated with a different subscriberaccount.

In some embodiments, the unique consumer identifier may be used toidentify a subscriber account and enable delivery of electronic contentto the service provider system 130 for association with the subscriberaccount. Examples of such content may include, but are not limited to,receipts, bill information or images (e.g., images received fromnon-electronic billers or billers who do not participate in theelectronic bill presentment and payment process), warranties, insurancepolicies, health insurance policies and explanation of benefits, or thelike.

In some embodiments, the transmission of the content may be fromthird-parties that may be given the unique consumer identifier withinstructions from the consumer 104 as to the type of content to deliver.Upon receipt of the content, the service provider system 130 may storethe content in association with the subscriber account. The serviceprovider system 130 may provide an ability to view the content throughan existing or new user interface. The consumer 104 may be provided theability to organize the content.

In some embodiments, the service provider system 130 may extract datafrom the content. The service provider system 130 may associated thecontent with a particular transaction associated with the subscriberaccount. For example, a receipt may be associated with the transactionsthat generated the receipt, such as payment of a bill, based at least inpart on the data extracted from the receipt, such as a date, amount ofthe transaction or the like.

In some embodiments, the consumer identifier generation module 216 mayoptionally facilitate the establishment of a PIN or password associatedwith the unique consumer identifier. The PIN or password may begenerated for one-time or repeated use in association with the uniqueconsumer identifier. The establishment of a PIN or password associatedwith the unique consumer identifier may provide additional securityand/or strengthen authentication.

If a PIN or password is established, the PIN or password may be providedto the consumer 104 in addition to the unique consumer identifier. Itmay be transmitted for presentation to the consumer 104 with the uniqueconsumer identifier or in a separate communication (e.g., separateemail, message, or the like). The biller may request the PIN or passwordin addition to the unique consumer identifier in order to initiate EBPPservices. In some embodiments, the biller may propagate the PIN orpassword with the unique consumer identifier to the service providersystem 130 in an electronic billing activation request. Responsive toreceiving the unique consumer identifier and the associated PIN orpassword from the biller system 140 in the electronic billing activationrequest, the service provider system 130 may validate the PIN orpassword after identifying the associated subscriber account and mayonly continue the activation processing if the PIN or password wasdetermined to be valid.

In some embodiments, even if a PIN or password is generated andassociated with a unique consumer identifier, its use may be optional.For example, in some embodiments, the service provider system 130 mayfacilitate EBPP services even if a PIN or password was not received,despite being generated. If, however, a PIN or password is received, theservice provider system 130 may terminate EBPP services or temporarilyhalt activation of EBPP services if an incorrect PIN or password wasreceived in association with the unique consumer identifier. If the PINor password is established for one-time use, then there may be amechanism for the consumer 104 to request a new value to use at adifferent biller. The service provider system 130 may store the uniqueconsumer identifier in association with the subscriber accountassociated with the consumer 104. This may enable later retrieval of thevalue or identification of the appropriate subscriber account.

In some embodiments, for security reasons, the PIN or password may betransmitted via a Web page presented by the service provider system 130by the consumer 104. In certain situations, to avoid a third partyhaving access to both the unique consumer identifier and the PIN orpassword, a third party Web page may re-direct the consumer 104 to theservice provider system 130 via a Web page operated by or on behalf ofthe service provider system 130 to allow the consumer 104 to enter thePIN or password. The service provider system 130 may determine whetherthe PIN or password was entered successfully and transmit thedetermination back to the third party Web page. If a consumer 104 is incommunication with the service provider system 130 when the uniqueconsumer identifier is established, the consumer 104 may be provided theopportunity to choose a value for the PIN or password, which may becaptured by a user device 102 and transmitted to the consumer identifiergeneration module 218 of a service provider processing computer 132. Thememory 204 may further include DBMS 204 for accessing, retrieving,storing, and/or manipulating data stored in one or more service providerdatastores 134 provided externally to the service provider processingcomputer 132 and/or one or more internal datastores provided, forexample, as part of the data storage 206. The service providerdatastore(s) 134 and/or data storage 206 may store any of the data,program modules, and so forth (at least a subset of which may be managedby DBMS 214) depicted as being stored in the memory 204 and/oradditional information such as payment information (e.g., pendingpayments and history), bills (e.g., historic and new), consumerinformation (e.g., name, address, contact information, etc.), uniqueconsumer identifiers, payee information associated with each of theconsumer's payees, including the biller, and further including eachbiller account at the biller (e.g., electronic billing activationstatus, biller account number, etc.) and so forth. The DBMS 214 may useany of a variety of database models (e.g., relational model, objectmodel, etc.) and may support any of a variety of query languages.Although not depicted in FIG. 2, it should be appreciated that thememory 204 and/or the data storage 206 may store any number ofadditional applications, program modules, and/or data.

The service provider processing computer 132 may further include one ormore I/O interfaces 208 that facilitate receipt, by the service providerprocessing computer 132, of information input via one or more I/Odevices associated with the service provider processing computer 132 aswell as the outputting of information from the service providerprocessing computer 132 to the one or more I/O devices. The I/O devicesmay include, but are not limited to, a display, a keypad, a keyboard, apointing device, a control panel, a touch screen display, a remotecontrol device, a speaker, a microphone, and so forth.

The service provider processing computer 132 may further include one ormore network interfaces 210 that may facilitate communication betweenthe service provider processing computer 132 and other components of thenetworked architecture 100 via one or more of the network(s) 110. Forexample, the network interface(s) 210 may facilitate interaction betweenthe service provider processing computer 132 and any of the user devices102, biller processing computers 142, consumer sponsor processingcomputers 122, and so forth.

FIG. 2 further depicts various illustrative software, hardware, and/orfirmware components of an illustrative biller processing computer 142 inaccordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure. The billerprocessing computer 142 may include one or more memories 222(generically referred to herein as memory 222) and one or moreprocessors (processor(s)) 220 configured to execute computer-executableinstructions that may be stored in the memory 222. In some embodiments,the biller processing computer 142 may include one or more buses tofacilitate transfers of data between components inside a computer (e.g.,between memory devices 222, processors 220, and the like). The one ormore buses may be parallel buses or serial buses. The biller processingcomputer 142 may be any suitable computing device including, but notlimited to, a server computer, a mainframe computer, and so forth. Itshould be appreciated that functionality described as being supported bythe biller processing computer 142 may, in various embodiments, besupported by a biller system 140 comprising one or more billerprocessing computers 142 and potentially additional software, firmware,and/or hardware components. Further, processing described as beingperformed or facilitated by the biller processing computer 142 may, invarious embodiments, be performed or facilitated in a distributedfashion by a plurality of biller processing computers 142.

The processor(s) 220 may include any suitable processing unit capable ofaccepting digital data as input, processing the input data in accordancewith stored computer-executable instructions, and generating outputdata. The processor(s) 220 may be configured to execute thecomputer-executable instructions to cause or facilitate the performanceof various operations. The processor(s) 220 may include any type ofsuitable processing unit including, but not limited to, a centralprocessing unit, a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a ReducedInstruction Set Computer (RISC) microprocessor, a Complex InstructionSet Computer (CISC) microprocessor, an Application Specific IntegratedCircuit (ASIC), a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), aSystem-on-a-Chip (SoC), and so forth.

The memory 222 may store computer-executable instructions that areloadable and executable by the processor(s) 220 as well as datamanipulated and/or generated by the processor(s) 220 during theexecution of the computer-executable instructions. The memory 222 mayinclude volatile memory (memory that maintains its state when suppliedwith power) such as random access memory (RAM) and/or non-volatilememory (memory that maintains its state even when not supplied withpower) such as read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, and so forth. Invarious implementations, the memory 222 may include multiple differenttypes of memory, such as static random access memory (SRAM), dynamicrandom access memory (DRAM), unalterable ROM, and/or writeable variantsof ROM such as electrically erasable programmable read-only memory(EEPROM), flash memory, and so forth.

The biller processing computer 142 may further include additional datastorage 224 such as removable storage and/or non-removable storageincluding, but not limited to, magnetic storage, optical disk storage,and/or tape storage. Data storage 224 may provide storage ofcomputer-executable instructions and other data. The data storage 224may include storage that is internal and/or external to the billerprocessing computer 142. The memory 222 and/or the data storage 224,removable and/or non-removable, are examples of computer-readablestorage media (CRSM).

The memory 222 may store data, computer-executable instructions,applications, and/or various program modules including, for example, oneor more operating systems 230, one or more DBMS 232, and/or one or moreprogram modules such as a biller account generation module 234 and anelectronic billing activation request module 236. The operating system(O/S) 230 may provide an interface between other applications and/orprogram modules executable by the biller processing computer 142 (e.g.,a biller account generation module 234 and an electronic billingactivation request module 236, etc.) and hardware resources of thebiller processing computer 142. More specifically, the O/S 230 mayinclude a set of computer-executable instructions for managing hardwareresources of the biller processing computer 142 and for providing commonservices to other applications and/or program modules (e.g., managingmemory allocation among various applications and/or program modules).The O/S 230 may include any operating system now known or which may bedeveloped in the future including, but not limited to, any desktop orlaptop operating system, any mobile operating system, any mainframeoperating system, or any other proprietary or freely available operatingsystem.

The biller account generation module 234 may include computer-executableinstructions that responsive to execution by the processor(s) 220 causevarious aspects of processing to be performed to generate billeraccounts associated with consumers 104 in accordance with one or moreembodiments of the disclosure. Further, the electronic billingactivation request module 236 may include computer-executableinstructions that responsive to execution by the processor(s) 220 causevarious aspects of biller-initiated electronic billing activationprocessing to be performed.

The memory 222 may further include DBMS 232 for accessing, retrieving,storing, and/or manipulating data stored in one or more biller systemdatastores 144 provided externally to the biller processing computer 142and/or one or more internal datastores provided, for example, as part ofthe data storage 224. The biller system datastore(s) 144 and/or datastorage 224 may store any of the data, program modules, and so forth (atleast a subset of which may be managed by DBMS 232) depicted as beingstored in the memory 222 and/or additional information such as invoicesor bills (e.g., current and historic), consumer information (e.g., name,address, contact information, etc.), unique consumer identifiers, payeeinformation associated with each biller account at the biller (e.g.,electronic billing activation status, biller account number, etc.) andso forth. The DBMS 232 may use any of a variety of database models(e.g., relational model, object model, etc.) and may support any of avariety of query languages. Although not depicted in FIG. 2, it shouldbe appreciated that the memory 222 and/or the data storage 224 may storeany number of additional applications, program modules, and/or data.

The biller processing computer 142 may further include one or more I/Ointerfaces 226 that facilitate receipt, by the biller processingcomputer 142, of information input via one or more I/O devicesassociated with the biller processing computer 142 as well as theoutputting of information from the biller processing computer 142 to theone or more I/O devices. The I/O devices may include, but are notlimited to, a display, a keypad, a keyboard, a pointing device, acontrol panel, a touch screen display, a remote control device, aspeaker, a microphone, and so forth.

The biller processing computer 142 may further include one or morenetwork interfaces 228 that may facilitate communication between thebiller processing computer 142 and other components of the networkedarchitecture 100 via one or more of the network(s) 110. For example, thenetwork interface(s) 228 may facilitate interaction between the billerprocessing computer 142 and any of the user devices 102, serviceprovider processing computers 132, and so forth.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that any of thecomponents of the architecture 200 may include alternate and/oradditional hardware, software or firmware components beyond thosedescribed or depicted without departing from the scope of thedisclosure. More particularly, it should be appreciated that software,firmware or hardware components depicted as forming part of any of thecomponents of the architecture 200 are merely illustrative and that somecomponents may not be present or additional components may be providedin various embodiments. While various program modules have been depictedand described with respect to various illustrative components of thearchitecture 200, it should be appreciated that functionality describedas being supported by the program modules may be enabled by anycombination of hardware, software, and/or firmware. It should further beappreciated that each of the above-mentioned modules may, in variousembodiments, represent a logical partitioning of supportedfunctionality. This logical partitioning is depicted for ease ofexplanation of the functionality and may not be representative of thestructure of software, firmware and/or hardware for implementing thefunctionality. Accordingly, it should be appreciated that functionalitydescribed as being provided by a particular module may, in variousembodiments, be provided at least in part by one or more other modules.Further, one or more depicted modules may not be present in certainembodiments, while in other embodiments, additional modules not depictedmay be present and may support at least a portion of the describedfunctionality and/or additional functionality. Moreover, while certainmodules may be depicted and described as sub-modules of another module,in certain embodiments, such modules may be provided as independentmodules.

Illustrative Processes

FIG. 3 is a data flow diagram depicting illustrative data flowsassociated with biller-initiated billing activation in accordance withan embodiment of the disclosure. The data flows may begin at 305 withthe service provider system 130 establishing a unique consumeridentifier for a consumer 104 in association with a subscriber account.The consumer identifier may be an identifier unique across the scope ofall the subscriber accounts associated with the service provider system130. The unique consumer identifier may be established once for eachsubscriber account. It may be used by the consumer 104 repeatedly withmultiple billers or other entities to direct bills or other content tothe service provider system 130 to be associated with the subscriberaccount associated with the unique consumer identifier.

At 310, the service provider system 130 may transmit a message forpresentation to the consumer 104. In some embodiments, the consumer 104may receive a message via a user application, such as an emailapplication or Short Message Service application. In some embodiments,the consumer 104 may receive a message via a dedicated mobileapplication associated with the service provider system 130 or abrowser-based UI application.

At 315, the consumer 104 may contact a biller system 140 (e.g., billerCSR 108) to establish service (e.g., create a new biller account). Insome embodiments, the consumer 104 may call a biller CSR 108 using atelephone. The consumer 104 may establish a communication channel withthe biller CSR 108 (using, for example, an instant messagingapplication) and indicate to the biller CSR 108 that he/she would liketo initiate services provided by the biller. At 320, the biller CSR 108may request information from the consumer 104 to establish a new billeraccount. The biller CSR 108 may request the information from theconsumer 104 over the telephone, or through another establishedcommunication channel, such as via an instant messaging application. At325, the consumer 104 may provide the requested information, includingthe unique consumer identifier. In some embodiments, the consumer 104may provide the requested information in conjunction with confirming awillingness to receive bills electronically. For example, the consumer104 may provide information such as a current address and otheridentifying information, such as a social security number. The consumer104 may provide information at 325 via the previously establishedcommunication channel (e.g., telephone call, chat windows of an instantmessaging application, or the like). In some embodiments, 315, 320, and325 may be accomplished over a non-real time communication channel, suchas an email or messaging system.

In some embodiments, a consumer 104 may provide information to a billersystem 140 through a self-service application, browser-based interface,or the like. The consumer 104 may provide information to the billersystem 140 without interacting with a biller CSR 108.

At 330, the biller system 140 may create a new biller account associatedwith the consumer 104 and may generate an electronic billing activationrequest that includes the unique consumer identifier. At 335, the billersystem 140 may transmit the electronic billing activation request to theservice provider system 130. In some embodiments, the biller system 140may automatically transmit the electronic billing activation request tothe service provider system 130 responsive to the generation of theelectronic billing activation request. In some embodiments, the billerCSR 108 may initiate transmission of the electronic billing activationrequest to the service provider system 130.

At 340, the service provider system 130 may receive the electronicbilling activation request from the biller system 140. The serviceprovider system 130 may extract the unique consumer identifier from theelectronic billing activation request and identify a subscriber accountassociated with the unique consumer identifier. The service providersystem 130 may establish the biller as a payee and an electronic billerof the consumer 104. The service provider system 130 may generate anotification of the biller set-up to the consumer 104 and a confirmationto the biller system 140. At 345, the service provider system 130 maytransmit the notification of the biller set-up to the consumer 104. At350, the service provider system 130 may transmit the confirmation ofthe electronic billing activation to the biller system 140. In someembodiments, the service provider system 130 may optionally permitsetting up automatic payments. The electronic billing activation requestmay include an indication from the consumer to set up automaticpayments. The service provider system 130 may set up the automaticpayments responsive to receiving the indication in the electronicbilling activation request and include confirmation of the automaticpayments in the confirmation transmitted to the biller system 140.

FIG. 4 is a process flow diagram of an illustrative method 400 forgenerating or identifying a previously generated unique consumeridentifier that facilitates biller-initiated electronic billing inaccordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. At block 402, a serviceprovider system 130 may identify a consumer 104. The service providersystem 130 may identify one or more consumers 104 through requestsreceived from the consumer 104, from messages sent through a consumersponsor system 120, from information retrieved from a service providerdatastore 134, or the like. In some embodiments, the service providersystem 130 may receive a request for enrollment, where enrollmentinformation may be received from a consumer 104. In some embodiments,the consumer 104 may have directly initiated the process by using a userdevice 102 to contact a service provider system 130 directly. Theconsumer 104 may have contacted the service provider system 130 througha Web page, a paper enrollment process, an interactive voice response(IVR) system, or the like. In some embodiments, the consumer 104 mayhave initiated the process to enroll in EBPP services through a consumersponsor system 120. In some embodiments, the service provider system 130may receive a transaction request from a consumer 104 who already has asubscriber account established.

At block 404, a determination may be made as to whether an identifiedconsumer 104 is associated with a subscriber account. If the consumer104 is not associated with a subscriber account, then at block 406, theservice provider system 130 may establish a subscriber account for theconsumer 104. This may entail generating a new subscriber account andassociating the subscriber account with the consumer 104. In someembodiments, the service provider system 130 may request informationfrom a consumer 104 to establish a subscriber account. For example, theservice provider system 130 may request contact information or financialinformation from the consumer 104. In some embodiments, the informationnecessary to establish a subscriber account may be received from aconsumer sponsor system 120. In some embodiments, the informationnecessary to establish a subscriber account may be received directlyfrom the consumer 104 through one or more communication channels, suchas a telephone call, a chat window of an instant messaging application,email, a video chat, or the like. The subscriber account informationassociated with the consumer 104 may be stored in a service providerdatastore 134.

If at block 404, it is determined that the consumer 104 is associatedwith a subscriber account, then at block 408, the subscriber accountinformation may be retrieved. The subscriber account information may beretrieved from one or more service provider datastores 134. In someembodiments, the subscriber account information may be retrieved usingidentifying information associated with a consumer 104, such as a name,email address, or phone number. In some embodiments, the consumer 104may be associated with a subscriber account identifier, which may beused to retrieve or otherwise obtain subscriber account informationassociated with the consumer 104.

At block 410, a determination may be made as to whether the subscriberaccount is associated with a unique consumer identifier.

If the subscriber account is not associated with a unique consumeridentifier, at block 412, a unique consumer identifier may be generatedby a consumer identifier generation module 216 of a service providerprocessing computer 132. In some embodiments, the consumer identifiergeneration module 216 may generate the unique consumer identifier basedat least in part on a value chosen by the consumer 104. The uniqueconsumer identifier may be unique over the scope of subscriber accounts.In some embodiments, a PIN or password may be generated and associatedwith the unique consumer identifier. The service provider system 130 mayestablish a unique consumer identifier for a consumer 104 who hasalready established a subscriber account but does not yet have a uniqueconsumer identifier. Those consumers 104 who already have established asubscriber account with the service provider system 130 but do not havea unique consumer identifier may be identified through periodic systemauditing by the service provider system 130. For example, the serviceprovider system 130 may check the data in the service provider datastore134 on a monthly basis and check each subscriber account to determine,among other things, if the subscriber account is associated with aunique consumer identifier. Responsive to the generation of a uniqueconsumer identifier, the service provider system 130 may associate theunique consumer identifier with the existing subscriber accountassociated with the consumer 104. At block 414, the generated uniqueconsumer identifier may be stored in association with the subscriberaccount associated with the consumer 104. In some embodiments, theunique consumer identifier, as well as any PIN or password that may havebeen generated and associated with the unique consumer identifier, maybe stored in a service provider datastore 134.

If the service provider system 130 determines at block 410 that thesubscriber account is associated with a unique consumer identifier orafter block 414 where the unique consumer identifier may be stored inassociation with a subscriber account associated with the consumer 104,at block 416, the service provider system 130 may generate an electronicnotification of the unique consumer identifier that is to be transmittedfor presentation to the consumer 104. The notification may take one ofany of a variety of forms, which may include but are not limited to, apresentation of the value in a Web page or similar user interfacepresentation, an email message, an SMS text message, a pushnotification, and/or an automated telephone message.

In some embodiments, the service provider system 130 may determine thatthe subscriber account is associated with the unique consumer identifierbut, based at least in part on a consumer request or other parameter,establish a new second subscriber account associated with the sameconsumer 104. For example, the new second subscriber account may beestablished in the context of a different sponsorship. Although thevalue of the unique consumer identifier may typically be presented as acharacter string that may be read or heard, other forms of presentationmay be used. These may include, but are not limited to, some sort ofencoding, such as a bar code, QR code, or the like, that may be read byan appropriate reader/scanner or captured as an image on a user device,thereby reducing the chance of subsequent miskeying. In some cases, thenotification may be prepared to be sent via a physical mail process inaddition to or instead of an electronic process. The notification maytake the form of a card or key ring tag similar to a loyalty programartifact. At block 418, the generated notification that includes theunique consumer identifier may be transmitted for presentation to theconsumer 104.

FIG. 5 is a process flow diagram of an illustrative method 500 forinitiating biller-initiated electronic billing in accordance with anembodiment of the disclosure. The method 500 for initiatingbiller-initiated electronic billing may begin subsequent to the method400. For example, method 500 may be initiated after a subscriber accounthas been established at the service provider system 130. At block 502,the biller system 140 may receive a request from a consumer 104 toinitiate services provided by the biller. For example, the consumer 104may initiate a process with a biller to set up a new biller accountsubsequent to receiving a unique consumer identifier from the serviceprovider system 130. The request from the consumer 104 may be receivedby the biller in a variety of different channels or forms, which mayinclude, but are not limited to, an automated Web-based applicationinterface, an automated interactive voice response (IVR) telephonicsystem interface, and/or a biller customer service representative (CSR)108. A biller CSR 108 may receive a telephone call from the consumer 104or may call the consumer 104 responsive to receiving a request throughany of the above-mentioned channels.

At block 504, the biller system 140 may determine whether there issufficient information to establish a biller account. In someembodiments, the request received from the consumer 104 may contain atleast some information needed by the biller system 140 to establish abiller account. In some embodiments, the biller system 140 may receiveinformation associated with the consumer 104 from a third-party, such asa service provider system 130 or consumer sponsor system 120.

The request to establish service with the biller and set up a new billeraccount for the consumer 104 may be received through a variety ofdifferent mechanisms which may include, but are not limited to, aWeb-based enrollment form that includes various fields that maypopulated with the desired information, a paper enrollment form mailedor given to the consumer 104, an automated (e.g., IVR-based) telephoneinteraction process soliciting responses for the various fields, and/ora biller CSR 108 conducting a conversation with the consumer to requestand receive data corresponding to the various fields.

Information that may be needed to establish a biller account may includethe unique consumer identifier established by the service providersystem 130. In some embodiments, a request for the unique consumeridentifier may be preceded by a request for an indication of whether theconsumer 104 would like to enable electronic billing. Electronic billingvia the service provider system 130 may be one of several optionsavailable for electronic billing, which may include electronic billingthrough other third-party entities or electronic billing directly fromthe biller. In some embodiments, the unique consumer identifier may becommunicated to a biller CSR 108 verbally or through a self-serviceapplication, browser-based interface, or the like. In some embodiments,the consumer 104 may provide the unique consumer identifier by providinga text string or may provide the unique consumer identifier as an imagerepresenting an encoding (e.g., bar code or quick response (QR) code).

If at block 504, the biller system 140 determines there is insufficientinformation to establish a biller account, then at block 506, the billersystem 140 may request additional information from the consumer 104. Forexample, a biller CSR 108 may contact the consumer 104 to requestadditional information. In some embodiments, the biller system 140 maygenerate a message to the consumer 104 to create a user account with thebiller system 140 and to add information through the user account, suchas through a Web page or dedicated client application.

At block 508, the biller system 140 may receive information associatedwith the consumer 104. For example, a biller CSR 108 may receive theinformation from the consumer 104 via a telephone call and enter theinformation into the biller system 140 using a computing device 106. Theinformation received by the biller system 140 may include the uniqueconsumer identifier established by the service provider system 130 andcommunicated to the consumer 104. In some embodiments, the informationmay be received in an automated form directly from the consumer 104(e.g., in the case of the consumer using a Web-based enrollmentapplication, an IVR-based system, or similar), or may be the result ofbiller data entry (e.g., by a biller CSR 108 using a computing device106) or data conversion (e.g., scanning and data extraction) ofinformation received by the biller in a form that cannot be immediatelyautomatically processed (e.g., paper form, aural form, fax or imageform, or the like).

If at block 504, it is determined by the biller system 140 that there issufficient information received from the request or other source or wheninformation is received at block 508, then at block 510, a billeraccount may be established and associated with the consumer 104. Thebiller system 140 may perform some validation and/or approval processing(e.g., the latter may be in the context of a credit request or loanapplication) on the consumer-supplied information. In some embodiments,the biller system 140 may analyze the consumer-supplied information todetermine whether to approve the generation or establishment of thebiller account. Responsive to verification of the information suppliedby the consumer 104, the biller system 140 may create a new billeraccount for the consumer. In creating a new biller account, the billersystem 140 may generate a biller account number by which the consumer104 will be known to the biller (e.g., for that particular account). Adata structure for the new biller account may include information aboutthe consumer 104 (e.g., including the unique consumer identifierprovided by the service provider system 130), the new biller accountnumber, service parameters, and possibly additional retrievedinformation or results of validation or approval processing may becreated and stored for future use. In some embodiments, the biller mayalso receive automatic payment instructions and parameters from theconsumer 104, which are discussed below.

Based on the information received in the request from the consumer 104at block 502 or from information received at block 508, at block 512, adetermination may be made by the biller system 140 as to whether theconsumer 104 should be enrolled in electronic billing. For example,either in the request received from the consumer 104 or from additionalinformation received from the consumer 104, the biller system 140 mayidentify an indication from the consumer 104 that he/she wishes toenroll in electronic billing. If the consumer 104 has indicated a desirenot to enroll in electronic billing, then the process may end.

In some embodiments, the provision of the unique consumer identifier inresponse to an electronic billing inquiry made by the biller system 140may indicate that the consumer elected to enable electronic billing. Insome embodiments, the consumer 104 may provide an explicit indication inthe request to establish service or as a response to the request foradditional information that they wish to enable electronic billing.

At block 514, a determination may optionally be made as to whether theconsumer 104 wishes to enroll in automatic bill payment. If the userdoes not wish to enroll in automatic bill payment, processing continueswith block 518. Otherwise, at block 516 the biller system 140 mayoptionally request additional information from the consumer 104regarding establishing automatic bill payments. For example, a billerCSR 108 may request a variety of control parameters. The informationreceived from the consumer 104, either from the request to establishservice or additional information received from the consumer 104, may beincluded in the electronic billing activation request requestingactivation of automatic bill payment. For example, the informationreceived from the request or the consumer 104 may indicate differentparameters for automatic bill payment, such as the amount to be paid(e.g., minimum payment, total amount, total amount up to a threshold),timing of the payment (e.g., on due date, a certain number of days priorto the due date, etc.), or duration of the automatic bill payments(e.g., no end date, designated amount of time, for example, six months,or the like).

At block 518, the biller system 140 may generate an electronic billingactivation request based at least in part on the unique consumeridentifier associated with the consumer. The electronic billingactivation request may be formatted for the service provider system 130.In some embodiments, the electronic billing activation request mayrequire the biller to identify the service provider system 130 frommultiple potential endpoints based on the unique consumer identifier. Aportion of the unique consumer identifier may identify the endpoint.Alternatively, the biller system 140 may compare the unique consumeridentifier with data stored in a local data repository, which may beperiodically updated to contain information corresponding to variousendpoints) or access one or more external services (e.g., via a Webservice) to determine a correct endpoint. When the correct endpoint isidentified, the biller system 140 may obtain or request furtherinformation associated with the endpoint to determine the particularinformation to transmit, one or more transaction formats, andpreferences or protocols for transmitting the information.

In some embodiments, the information included in the electronic billingactivation request may include, but is not limited to, an identificationof the biller (as known by the service provider system 130), the uniqueconsumer identifier, and/or an identification of the biller accountestablished and associated with the consumer 104 (e.g., biller accountnumber).

Other information may include: information associated with the consumer104 as known by the biller system 140 (e.g., name, address, etc.),billing cycle start date, billing cycle frequency, or automatic billpayment instructions and/or parameters.

At block 520, the biller system 140 may transmit the electronic billingactivation request to the service provider system 130. In someembodiments, the biller system 140 may transmit the electronic billingactivation request over one or more secure networks. In someembodiments, the biller system 140 may update a data repositoryaccessible by both the biller system 140 and the service provider system130 and transmit a message to the service provider system 130 that achange has been made to the repository. In some embodiments,communications between the various entities (e.g., the biller system140, the service provider system 130, etc.) may be either synchronous orasynchronous. Synchronous communications may have active entities thatexchange data, such as requests and/or responses, immediately, whereasasynchronous systems may include processing at one end that is delayedwith respect to another system. Web services or other types ofrequest-response processing may be an example of synchronous processing.An example of asynchronous processing may include one-at-a-timeprocessing over, for example, a messaging queue or batch processing,where a number of requests or response are combined together in a“batch” or file and transmitting the file from one system to another.

FIG. 6 is a process flow diagram of an illustrative method 600 forresponding to a biller-initiated electronic billing activation requestin accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. At block 602, theservice provider system 130 may receive the electronic billingactivation request generated by the biller system 140 in associationwith method 500.

At block 604, the service provider system 130 may identify a subscriberaccount. In some embodiments, the service provider system 130 mayextract or use information from the electronic billing activationrequest to identify the subscriber account. For example, the serviceprovider system 130 may extract the unique consumer identifier from theelectronic billing activation request and may query the service providerdatastore 134 and/or data storage 206 of the service provider processingcomputer 132 to identify a subscriber account associated with the uniqueconsumer identifier. If additional consumer information is received, theservice provider system 130 may use the information to confirm and/orverify the identification of the consumer 104.

At block 606, the service provider system 130 may establish the billerthat transmitted the electronic billing activation request as a payee ofthe identified consumer 104. For example, the biller account activationmodule 218 may identify the subscriber account associated with theidentified consumer 104 and modify or add data to the subscriberinformation indicating that the biller is a payee of the consumer 104.In some embodiments, the biller account activation module 218 may createa new payee corresponding to the biller account identified by theelectronic billing activation request (e.g., a combination of the billeridentifier and the biller account number) in a payee list of theconsumer 104 associated with the subscriber account. The payee mayidentify the biller and the biller account.

At block 608, the service provider system 130 may establish the billeras an electronic biller of the consumer. This may involve setting anindicator associated with the appropriate payee in the payee list. Ifthe electronic billing activation request further includes automaticpayment instructions and/or parameters, the service provider system 130may validate the information and activate automatic payment of futurereceived electronic bills in accordance with theinstructions/parameters.

At block 610, the service provider system 130 may generate one or morenotification(s) of the addition of the biller as a new payee andelectronic biller of the consumer 104. In some embodiments, the one ormore notification(s) may indicate the associated establishment ofautomatic payments for the biller. The notification(s) may be electronic(e.g., a visual presentation in a user interface during a subsequentlog-in by the consumer 104 into the website or system, an email, an SMStext message, a push notification, an automated telephone message) ornon-electronic or non-automated (e.g., a paper mailing or a humantelephone call). More than one notification mechanism may be used.Consumer profile information and/or preferences associated with thesubscriber account may be examined to determine the appropriatemechanism(s).

At block 612, the service provider system 130 may transmit the one ormore notification(s) for presentation to the consumer 104. In someembodiments, the activity may be logged in the service providerdatastore 134, in association with the consumer data (e.g., subscriberaccount).

At block 614, the service provider system 130 may generate aconfirmation of the activation of electronic billing in response to theelectronic billing activation request, to be transmitted to the biller.At block 616, the service provider system 130 may transmit the generatedconfirmation to the biller system 140.

In some embodiments, after the electronic billing activation processing,electronic billing and payment may proceed normally, as it wouldfollowing consumer-initiated electronic billing activation. The billermay generate electronic billing information for the consumer 104 at thenext billing cycle date and transmit at least a portion of theelectronic billing information to the service provider system 130. Thetransmitted electronic billing information may include an identificationof the biller and an identification of the biller account associatedwith the consumer 104 (e.g., the biller account number). Based upon thebiller account number, the service provider system 130 may associate thenewly received electronic billing information with the appropriatesubscriber account.

The service provider system 130 may take appropriate action, inaccordance with pre-established parameters, to notify the consumer 104of the newly received electronic billing information, transform newlyreceived electronic billing information for presentation, present newlyreceived electronic billing information, and/or automatically pay thebill associated with the newly received electronic billing information,as appropriate. If the bill is not automatically paid, the serviceprovider system 130 may support payment of the bill upon receiving aconsumer 104 request to do so. The service provider system 130 mayaccept payment from the consumer 104 in association with the electronicbill and transmit the funds to the biller.

CONCLUSION

The operations and processes described and shown above may be carriedout or performed in any suitable order as desired in variousimplementations. Additionally, in certain implementations, at least aportion of the operations may be carried out in parallel. Furthermore,in certain implementations, less than or more than the operationsdescribed may be performed.

Certain aspects of the disclosure are described above with reference toblock and flow diagrams of systems, methods, apparatuses, and/orcomputer program products according to various implementations. It willbe understood that one or more blocks of the block diagrams and flowdiagrams, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and the flowdiagrams, respectively, can be implemented by computer-executableprogram instructions. Likewise, some blocks of the block diagrams andflow diagrams may not necessarily need to be performed in the orderpresented, or may not necessarily need to be performed at all, accordingto some implementations.

These computer-executable program instructions may be loaded onto aspecial-purpose computer or other particular machine, a processor, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a particularmachine when executing the computer-executable program instructions. Thecomputer, processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus soloaded with computer-executable program instructions and executing thecomputer-executable program instructions becomes a means forimplementing one or more functions specified in the previously describedflow diagram block or blocks. These computer-executable programinstructions may also be stored in one or more non-transientcomputer-readable storage media or memories that can direct a computeror other programmable data processing apparatus to function in aparticular manner in accordance with one or more functions specified inthe previously described flow diagram block or blocks. Suchcomputer-readable storage media may constitute an article ofmanufacture. As an example, certain implementations may provide for acomputer program product, comprising a computer-readable storage mediumhaving a computer-readable program code or program instructionsimplemented therein, said computer-readable program code adapted to beexecuted to implement one or more functions specified in the flowdiagram block or blocks. The computer program instructions may also beloaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatusto cause a series of operational elements or steps to be performed onthe computer or other programmable apparatus to produce acomputer-implemented process such that the instructions that execute onthe computer or other programmable apparatus provide elements or stepsfor implementing the functions specified in the flow diagram block orblocks.

Accordingly, blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams supportcombinations of means for performing the specified functions,combinations of elements or steps for performing the specified functionsand program instruction means for performing the specified functions. Itwill also be understood that each block of the block diagrams and flowdiagrams, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and flowdiagrams, can be implemented by special-purpose, hardware-based computersystems that perform the specified functions, elements or steps, orcombinations of special-purpose hardware and computer instructions.

Conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or“may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understoodwithin the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certainimplementations could include, while other implementations do notinclude, certain features, elements, and/or operations. Thus, suchconditional language is not generally intended to imply that features,elements, and/or operations are in any way required for one or moreimplementations or that one or more implementations necessarily includelogic for deciding, with or without user input or prompting, whetherthese features, elements, and/or operations are included or are to beperformed in any particular implementation.

Many modifications and other implementations of the disclosure set forthherein will be apparent having the benefit of the teachings presented inthe foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it isto be understood that the disclosure is not to be limited to thespecific implementations disclosed and that modifications and otherimplementations are intended to be included within the scope of theappended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they areused in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes oflimitation.

1. A system, comprising: at least one network interface configured to:receive, by a biller system associated with a biller, entity informationassociated with an entity requesting to establish a biller account withthe biller system, wherein the entity information comprises anidentifier associated with a subscriber account at an electronic billpresentment and payment (EBPP) service provider, and wherein thesubscriber account is associated with the entity; and receive, from theservice provider system, a confirmation of processing of an electronicbilling activation request; at least one memory storingcomputer-executable instructions; and at least one processor configuredto access the at least one memory and to execute the computer-executableinstructions to: generate the biller account; generate the electronicbilling activation request, wherein the electronic billing activationrequest comprises i) an identifier associated with the biller, ii) theidentifier associated with the subscriber account, and iii) anidentifier associated with the biller account; and direct the at leastone network interface to transmit, to a service provider systemassociated with the EBPP service provider, the electronic billingactivation request.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the entity is oneof: i) an individual, or ii) a business.
 3. The system of claim 1,wherein the at least one network interface is further configured to:receive a request to initiate processing to generate the biller account.4. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is furtherconfigured to: direct the at least one network interface to transmit,for presentation to the entity, a request for the entity informationresponsive to receiving the request to initiate processing to generatethe biller account.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least oneprocessor is further configured to at least one of: validate at least aportion of the entity information; or analyze at least a portion of theentity information to approve generating the biller account.
 6. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is furtherconfigured to: generate the identifier associated with the billeraccount.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor isfurther configured to: store the entity information in association withthe identifier associated with the biller account.
 8. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:identify the EBPP service provider based at least in part on theidentifier associated with the subscriber account.
 9. The system ofclaim 1, where the entity information further comprises an automatedpayment request.
 10. The system of claim 9, wherein the electronicbilling activation request further comprises an automated paymentinstruction corresponding to the automated payment request, wherein theautomated payment instruction indicates automatic payment of futurebills of the biller for the biller account.
 11. A computer-implementedmethod, comprising: receiving, by a biller system associated with abiller and comprising one or more computers, entity informationassociated with an entity requesting to establish a biller account withthe biller system, wherein the entity information comprises anidentifier associated with a subscriber account at an electronic billpresentment and payment (EBPP) service provider, and wherein thesubscriber account is associated with the entity; generating, by thebiller system, the biller account; generating, by the biller system, anelectronic billing activation request, wherein the electronic billingactivation request comprises i) an identifier associated with thebiller, ii) the identifier associated with the subscriber account, andiii) an identifier associated with the biller account; transmitting, bythe biller system to a service provider system associated with the EBPPservice provider, the electronic billing activation request; andreceiving, by the biller system from the service provider system, aconfirmation of processing of the electronic billing activation request.12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the entity isone of: i) an individual, or ii) a business.
 13. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 11, further comprising: receiving,by the biller system, a request to initiate processing to generate thebiller account.
 14. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, furthercomprising: transmitting, by the biller system for presentation to theentity, a request for the entity information responsive to receiving therequest to initiate processing to generate the biller account.
 15. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein generating the billeraccount comprises at least one of: validating, by the biller system, atleast a portion of the entity information; or analyzing, by the billersystem, at least a portion of the entity information to approvegenerating the biller account.
 16. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 11, further comprising: generating, by the biller system, theidentifier associated with the biller account.
 17. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 11, further comprising: storing theentity information in association with the identifier associated withthe biller account.
 18. The computer-implemented method of claim 11,further comprising: identifying, by the biller system, the EBPP serviceprovider based at least in part on the identifier associated with thesubscriber account.
 19. The computer-implemented method of claim 11,where the entity information further comprises an automated paymentrequest.
 20. The computer-implemented method of claim 19, wherein theelectronic billing activation request further comprises an automatedpayment instruction corresponding to the automated payment request,wherein the automated payment instruction indicates automatic payment offuture bills of the biller for the biller account.